Marketing & Communication

Dr. Carine M. Feyten named chancellor and president of Texas Woman's University

4/18/14

Carine M. Feyten

DENTON/DALLAS/HOUSTON — The Texas Woman’s University Board of Regents today voted unanimously to name Carine M. Feyten, Ph.D., chancellor and president of TWU, the nation’s largest university primarily for women.

“My fellow regents and I are confident Dr. Feyten has the vision and qualities to lead the university into the future,” said Sue S. Bancroft, chair and presiding officer of the TWU Board of Regents. “She will be a strong leader for TWU, and we look forward to working with her.”

Dr. Feyten officially will begin her tenure as TWU’s second chancellor and 11th president on July 1. She succeeds Dr. Ann Stuart, who is retiring after 14 years as chancellor and president of the university.

“I am elated and humbled at this opportunity to collaborate with the talented faculty, students and staff at Texas Woman’s University who have already accomplished significant milestones in the areas of education, health care, liberal arts, the sciences, diversity, leadership and service,” said Dr. Feyten. “I also appreciate the examples of leadership and collegiality I experienced at Miami University. They will be a positive influence as I embrace the potential and pioneering spirit of TWU’s community. My husband Chad and I are looking forward to contributing to the pioneering spirit so prevalent in the great state of Texas.”

TWU Regent George Schrader, who led the national search for the new chancellor and president, praised Dr. Feyten’s focus on the future of higher education.

“She understands what students need to know to become workforce ready and how to teach them. Dr. Feyten thinks globally and has an international perspective,” Mr. Schrader said.

Founded in 1901, TWU is a public university with an enrollment of approximately 15,000 students on campuses in Denton, Dallas and Houston. TWU offers more than 140 undergraduate, master’s and doctoral degree programs in the liberal arts, nursing, health sciences, business, the sciences and education.

Dr. Feyten joins TWU after serving as dean of the College of Education, Health and Society at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, since 2006. The university has an enrollment of 17,550 students on its main campus and a total of 23,390 students over three campuses. The college of EHS includes 65 undergraduate, master’s and doctoral programs, an enrollment close to 3,000 students (graduate and undergraduate) on the main campus, 197 faculty and a total revenue budget of $43 million, excluding external grants, gifts and endowments.

Her many accomplishments include:

• Developing and launching a strategic plan focused on a holistic and sustainable approach to all aspects of administrative, faculty and student well-being;
• Leading a capital campaign that has raised more than $27 million, well above its goal of $15 million;
• Increasing enrollment and retention rates in the college, resulting in a 90 percent average retention from freshman to sophomore in the past few years;
• Attaining a college graduation rate of 81 percent, among the highest on campus;
• Significantly increasing external grant funding obtained by the college, including a $1.5 million grant as the principal investigator;
• Earning recognition from the White House for the college’s commitment to service learning and community engagement;
• Establishing strong relationships with the Ohio Governor’s Office and officials at the state level; and
• Leading multiple successful accreditation efforts.

“Carine has provided exceptionally committed, creative and collaborative leadership. She has been a champion of the innovative use of technology and the importance of an integrative, holistic approach to improving the lives of young people. She has provided strong leadership across the university in many critical committees. We are grateful for all that she has done to significantly strengthen both the College of Education, Health, and Society and Miami University. We wish her well in her service to TWU,” said David Hodge, Miami University President.

“Dean Feyten has been such a powerful leader for all people on our campus here and such a great role model for our young women. I'm so pleased to hear that we'll have a champion like her among us in the world of women's colleges – though as I write that I also feel an instant pang of loss for Miami,” said Maggie Patrick, associate director of annual giving at Miami University and herself a graduate of a women’s college.

Dr. Feyten’s research interests include listening, language learning/teaching methodologies and the integration of technology in education. She has authored or co-authored more than 100 journal articles, conference papers and book chapters, and is an internationally recognized consultant and speaker.

She has held national offices in her field and won many awards, including the Florence Steiner Award for Leadership in Foreign Language Education-Postsecondary from the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages.

Prior to being named a dean at Miami University, Dr. Feyten served as associate dean of academic affairs in the College of Education at the University of South Florida in Tampa. She also has taught undergraduate, master’s and doctoral-level courses in foreign language education, second language acquisition, applied linguistics and TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages). She has been recognized internationally, nationally and at the regional and statewide levels for her leadership, teaching and research.

Dr. Feyten holds a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Education, Second Language Acquisition from the University of South Florida, and an M.A. in English, Dutch, Education and a B.A. in Germanic Philology, both from the Université Catholique Louvain in Belgium. A native of Belgium, she is fluent in five languages.